View full sizeIn a photo provided by ESPN, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o pauses during an interview with ESPN on Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, in Bradenton, Fla. ESPN says Te'o maintains he was never involved in creating the dead girlfriend hoax. He said in the off-camera interview: "When they hear the facts they'll know. They'll know there is no way I could be a part of this." (AP Photo/ESPN Images, Ryan Jones)

In an interview to be aired Thursday, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o admitted to Katie Couric that he lied about the supposed death of a woman he met online and considered his girlfriend.

According to an Associated Press story, the star football player insisted he was not part of some hoax to elicit sympathy, and truly believed the woman died on the same day as his grandmother back in September.

When he found out in early December that the whole situation was a hoax, he said he felt he could not tell the truth.

"Katie, put
yourself in my situation. I, my whole world told me that she died on
Sept. 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to,
died on Sept. 12," Te'o told Couric.

"Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying
that she's alive and then I'm going be put on national TV two days
later. And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you
do?"

A segment of the interview with Te'o and his
parents was broadcast Wednesday on "Good Morning America."